Rivers Looking To Be Night-errant Of The Talk Show Circuit

May 16, 1986|By Sal Manna, Special to the Tribune.

LOS ANGELES — It is a feud worthy of a nighttime soap opera. In one corner, there is the established show business institution, the small-town boy from Nebraska who made good. In the other, the woman he helped bring into the spotlight, a brassy, blond New Yorker who now challenges her mentor`s supremacy. Behind the scenes is a powerful and wealthy media baron. At stake are hundreds of millions of dollars.

The gloves are off and show biz blood is being spilled. Joan Rivers vs. Johnny Carson. Hollywood hasn`t seen such a confrontation since Rocky squared off against Apollo Creed.

It all began last week when Rivers announced that she will host her own late-night talk/variety show, ``The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers,`` as the cornerstone of the new Fox Broadcasting Co. (FBC), a seminal effort at creating a fourth television network. Her hour-long show, to debut in late September, will air at 10 p.m. each weeknight (on WFLD-Ch. 32 in Chicago), placing it in head-to-head competition with NBC`s ``The Tonight Show,`` which begins at 10:30.

The announcement stunned Carson, for whom she has been the permanent substitute host of ``The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson`` since 1983.

Carson was ``surprised and shocked,`` says Jim Mahoney, Carson`s spokesman. ``I was about to call him to congratulate him on winning a Peabody Award and I heard the announcement on the radio. When I told him, he said,

`You`re surprised? I`m shocked. We`ve been in negotiations with her for weeks on a new contract. She hosted last week and never said anything.```

Rivers, interviewed by phone from Las Vegas, disagrees, vehemently.

``They can`t lie like that. It`s naughty. If they continue, I`ll sue them. I conducted myself honorably and upfront.`` She claims that her

representatives approached NBC about renewing her contract a few weeks ago and were brushed off with a ``We`ll get back to you.`` They never did, she insists.

The feud`s opening salvos have been worthy of a mud-slinging political campaign. For example, Rivers says she tried to phone Carson the day before the announcement as well as an hour before the press conference but that he refused to take her calls.

Mahoney retorts that ``a press conference was already set up. There are certain ways of doing business. It was a little shabby the way this was handled.``

Rivers admits she had no idea there would be such a fuss. ``No way. I feel like a battered wife,`` she says. ``They (NBC) don`t pay any attention to me for three years--I mean, I never even met Grant Tinker (the president of NBC)--and now it`s suddenly a brouhaha. I thought Johnny would be thrilled and delighted for me. I dedicated my book (``Enter Laughing``) to him! He`s read this wrong.``

NBC and Carson did not wait for another reading. As soon as Rivers went public about her new show, NBC canceled her two-week ``Tonight Show`` stint in June. ``They fired me! I thought I`d get a going-away party!``

The controversy has grievously threatened a professional friendship all America has watched grow. On Feb. 16, 1966, at the end of her first appearance on ``The Tonight Show,`` Carson cheered, ``You`re going to be a star, kid.``

And at the conclusion of each show she guest-hosted, Rivers signed off by saying, ``Thanks Johnny for letting me sit here.``

She readily acknowledges that ``Carson is a master. What he does looks simple but isn`t. Being there was an incredible learning opportunity.``

Nevertheless, at her press conference, the barbed-tongue Rivers charged that her ratings were higher than Carson`s. ``I`m so grateful to NBC, they gave me three years to test myself . . . but they should be grateful to me

(too). I made them a bundle of money.``

Charlie Barrett, NBC`s spokesman for the ``Tonight Show,`` denies her claims, referring to an NBC study revealing that Rivers` highest-rated week was in December, 1985, with a 7.7 rating (meaning that 7.7 percent of all television sets were tuned in) but that the season average with Carson sitting in was 7.8, despite including the lower-rated ``Best of Carson`` compilations and reruns.

Nielsen officials, however, disagree with NBC`s assessment and back up Rivers. Larry Frerk, promotion director for the A.C. Nielsen Co. headquartered in Northbrook, says that, as an example, the last week Rivers hosted the show, she earned a 7.2 rating while the month previous (April), Carson averaged only a 6.4.

(According to Nielsen, for the season to date, the show has averaged a 7.3 rating, indicating that 8.8 million people watch each night. It greatly outdistances its competition, ABC`s ``Nightline`` with a 6 rating, and ``CBS Late Night`` with a 5.3)

In either case, industry analysts complain that the ``Tonight Show`` does not appeal to the younger (under 35) audience that can be attracted to late night television. Fox is banking on Rivers providing an alternative for advertisers and audiences.